This invention relates to bowling balls, and more particularly to bowling balls with weights implanted to compensate for weight loss caused by drilling finger holes in the balls and to improve performance characteristics of the bowling ball.
Normally in the sport of ten-pin bowling, a large ball is used, ranging in weight from 8 to 16 pounds, to knock down ten large pins. These bowling balls are drilled with three holes, one for the thumb and two for the middle and ring fingers, to provide the bowler with a hand-grip on the ball. Since drilling these holes in the bowling ball removes material from the balls, the ball becomes unbalanced unless weight is added to the ball to compensate for same.
Many methods have been proposed to compensate for weight loss and imbalance due to the drilling of thumb and finger holes. The most common method is to insert weighted blocks, caps or pegs into the ball at various locations in the ball. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,441,274 by Collins shows a bowling ball with screw-in plugs, two on opposite sides of the ball and one between the thumb and finger holes. U.S. Pat. No. 2,414,672 by Sauer shows a bowling ball having finger tips with weighted caps to off-set weight removed by drilling other holes. U.S. Pat. No. 531,103 by Dokkenwadel shows the insertion of a weight in the center of the ball to add weight and to balance the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,619 by Taylor discloses a method of placing the weight in the ball within a cylindrical hole with a disk-cap for inserting and removing weights. U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,757 by Swett et al., shows a bowling ball with at least six (6) weight receptacles on perpendicular axes of the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 746,576 by Rice shows finger holes designed to receive the weights on the inside thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 189,674 by Woods also shows ten-pin bowling balls with finger holes designed to receive weights. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,899 by Calvino shows bowling balls with a pair of internal weights positioned at the intersection of the finger and thumb holes to counter the weight loss caused by drilling the finger holes.
Unfortunately, the problem with many of the patents in the prior art is that weights implanted to increase stability make it difficult to curve or hook the ball, which is necessary to obtain a proper hit in ten-pin bowling.
On the other hand, the instant invention not only improves stability of the ball, but improves handling characteristics to enable the ball to be hooked properly by the bowler. The instant invention uses three weights which are implanted within the core of the ball, preferrably one of the weights halfway between the thumb hole and the two finger holes, and the other two at the 3 and 9 o'clock position from the first weight. The middle weight creates an end over end rolling effect of the ball, whereas the three and nine o'clock weights create leverage to pull the ball to the left or right, respectively, when it is hooked by a right- or left-handed bowler. The latter characteristic illustrates the leverage effect of this unique weight block system.